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Trump officials thought USAID did 'just abortions,' asked for 'Barney-style' slides before gutting agency
An excerpt from a new book by one of the sacked USAID officials (he was kicked out when he wrote a memo to much of USAID detailing the devastation to lifesaving work the cuts would cause) via Lawyers Guns & Money, who comment "the destruction of USAID in itself dispositively settles the question of whether Trump is the worst president of the 21st century — countless people will die because of the impulsive actions of amoral know-nothings". The scene is a meeting in February 2025 between the professionals of the Global Health (GH) section and the new political appointees, just after most USAID staff had been place on administrative leave.
Joel, also smiling, chimed in next, echoing Jackson’s amazement. “I had no idea you did all this,” he said. “As a Republican, when I think of what USAID does in global health, I assumed it was just, you know, abortions.”
...
Adam thought for a moment and then responded, noting that the political appointees at USAID were “not health people.” It would be hard, he surmised, for nonexperts to understand this issue. And so he suggested that we draft a simple, “Barney-style” set of slides to help the political leadership grasp the dangers, referring to the purple dinosaur of children’s television. He recommended that we use the term “Super TB” instead of “drug- resistant TB” to describe the mutations that can develop when treatment is interrupted, because it might be more likely to “catch their attention.”
...
“Can I just clarify one thing?” she asked, not waiting for a response. “This group seems very focused on what GH does to respond to infectious diseases, but we haven’t spoken much about our other lifesaving work. Just as one example, we support lifesaving care to mothers for emergency interventions like postpartum hemorrhaging and eclampsia, two of the leading causes of pregnancy-related deaths. You would also consider that kind of work to fit into our ‘priority number one,’ right?”
Another brief silence followed as Joel watched the clock, and it was Paul Seong who broke it. “I’d say that’s more of a number two,” he said dismissively, looking to Joel and Ken for affirmation.
https://www.thehandbasket.co/p/trump-usaid-abortions-barney-nicholas-enrich-into-the-wood-chipper-book-exclusive
...
Adam thought for a moment and then responded, noting that the political appointees at USAID were “not health people.” It would be hard, he surmised, for nonexperts to understand this issue. And so he suggested that we draft a simple, “Barney-style” set of slides to help the political leadership grasp the dangers, referring to the purple dinosaur of children’s television. He recommended that we use the term “Super TB” instead of “drug- resistant TB” to describe the mutations that can develop when treatment is interrupted, because it might be more likely to “catch their attention.”
...
“Can I just clarify one thing?” she asked, not waiting for a response. “This group seems very focused on what GH does to respond to infectious diseases, but we haven’t spoken much about our other lifesaving work. Just as one example, we support lifesaving care to mothers for emergency interventions like postpartum hemorrhaging and eclampsia, two of the leading causes of pregnancy-related deaths. You would also consider that kind of work to fit into our ‘priority number one,’ right?”
Another brief silence followed as Joel watched the clock, and it was Paul Seong who broke it. “I’d say that’s more of a number two,” he said dismissively, looking to Joel and Ken for affirmation.
https://www.thehandbasket.co/p/trump-usaid-abortions-barney-nicholas-enrich-into-the-wood-chipper-book-exclusive
There's much more there, and 4 paragraphs can't do it justice. This is not just Musk and his 19-year-old DOGE idiots with no idea at all about how government or aid works (the political appointees in this hate DOGE too - one shouts "See, this is why, just because it might work at Twitter does not mean you can do it here!", when the cuts that have already happened will make getting the information needed to save lives from malaria tough or impossible). These are ideologues, who, despite getting appointed to jobs with lives in their hands, have the knowledge you'd expect from a 30 second Republican election ad, or a rambling Trump speech full of lies.
And they are just dumb. They want over-simplified presentations suitable for a kindergarten kid (destined for Trump? Or are the intermediate appointees that uneducated too?). They can't grasp that "Global Health" might have more than one area in which they save lives quickly, so they make GH do a "Sophie's Choice" of which ones to kill, so that one might be saved.
15 replies
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You can purchase the book here:
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Into-the-Wood-Chipper/Nicholas-Enrich/9781668226957
Thank you. ❤️
